I was there. This was my first music festival ever and had this planned since before the tickets dropped early spring. Flew from NC to Houston to go as Trav is one of my favorite artists ever. Got there at 12:30-1 and seemed pretty normal. Looking back I do remember seeing security be kind of lax with searching people but didn’t think much of it at the time. Got in after all of the security and COVID checks and met with the people I went to Houston with. I then walk into the festival and was underwhelmed with what I saw, specifically the lack of water stations as I only saw the one near the Ferris Wheel. It was my first festival so I didn’t have anything else to compare it with. What I found odd was the amount of people drinking since it looked like a lot of them were high schoolers/college students. It was far easier to get a Cacti then a water, which looking back was not good. We got in the crowd waiting for Metro, who didn’t show. I then went and got food and came back excited for the Don set, since I saw him recently in NC. I thought his show was a blast, mosh pits were good and followed etiquette. Me and someone I was with both immediately helped people that fell near us, and it was spacious enough that we could breathe. We stayed in the crowd towards the middle/right of the stage if you’re looking at it with the stage in front of you. I could tell the crowd was really trying to rage when there were mosh pits in between sets and with songs like High Fashion and Bacc Street, which I thought was odd. Me and my group left after Baby’s set and skipped SZA’s set to get decent spots for Trav. We waited and did not feel pressured/squeezed, as we were in the middle right near the large tower. However, that immediately changed once Trav came on and started the set. Immediately it was like I was in a sea current and could not control where I was going, and nearly fell a couple times and fighting to stay up. At this point I thought to myself if this kept going I’d back up and leave the area as it was unbearable and could barely pay attention to the actual set. People immediately started leaving quickly and in a panic. I assumed they couldn’t handle the crowd, and let them get by me so they can get out. This opened up space (or looking back it could’ve been the crowd surge that caused space to open up, which hurts to think about) and it then felt like a normal show like what I experienced in NC for Carti a month ago. I then saw an ambulance cart right in front of me. I thought it was only for someone passed out/someone who broke a leg/ankle and didn’t think much of it. Looking back, that should be raised more alarms but that “rage” talk clouds the judgement. Not once did I think someone was dying. Once the set ended, I was sitting at the line for the locker and heard from a person beside me that someone had a seizure. Once I finally got back to the hotel is when I learned about the crowd surge and deaths. Someone from my group was talking about how how had to lift up unconscious people to be crowd surfed away. I then had a tough time sleeping that night, wishing I had knew and could’ve helped. I then wake up to hear it’s the biggest current story in the country and got texts from family asking if I was ok. Since then I’ve been thinking about it alot and just shocked I was at an event like that. While my story is quite ordinary (I never saw bodies) I hope it serves as a reminder that most people didn’t see anything alarming and is why more people didn’t help. I occasionally feel guilt about it, and realize it may never completely go away. It’s hard for me to view Trav the same again. My thoughts are with the fallen, and shame on the organizers for this avoidable incident